Me trying out Araban's advice

[Suji]

I just played a game on IGS, and I was white. I think I did alright, but I think my opponent resigned too early.

I took Araban's advice and tried to come up with a good reason for every move, and my play, from what I could tell, was a lot smoother.

Here's the game.

(;GM[1]FF[4]AP[glGo:1.4]ST[1]

SZ[19]KM[6.5]
PW[White]WR[BC]PB[Black]BR[BC]

;B[pp]
;W[dd]C[I don't usually let my opponent play a diagonal fuseki. That's why I played this move.]
;B[eq]
;W[pd]C[I wanted to get the last corner.]
;B[qf]
;W[nd]C[I thought for a while and decided this move would work better with my D16 stone. I also considered playing O17, with the intention of playing R17 if he jumped into S16.

I had the same intention with this move.

Couple questions, what is the difference between the two moves O16 and O17? I know one is high and aims for influence, and the other is low and aims more for territory.

Also, what is the difference between the structures after the exchange S16 for black and R17 for white?]
;B[qi]
;W[cp]C[This move was aimed at not letting him get the shimari that he wanted. Additionally, he had stones in two directions, and I wanted to keep up.

I didn't want to fall behind early.]
;B[cn]
;W[dq]C[I had no idea how to respond to the pincer, so I had to stop and think about this move. Basically, my idea was to force E4, then play H4 or J4 to somewhat put some pressure on E3 and E4.

Was this a good idea? In hindsight, it probably wasn't that great of an idea, since Black has the C6 stone. I was prepared, however, to live in the corner and Black having influence toward the top, right, and center. I don't know what I would have done, though if that would have happened.]
;B[ep]
;W[hp]C[I played here to put pressure on E3 and E4, and to take away the natural extension that black would play around here.

Was this move bad? Am I too close? Can I live in the corner? I was hoping that I could live in the corner, and snag some points on the bottom as well. That being the best case scenario, though.]
;B[hq]
;W[gq]C[I cut here since I thought it a good idea that I connect H4 with my corner, if possible.]
;B[iq]
;W[gp]C[I thought Black's last move was slightly passive, and I thought it a good idea to protect the cut at this point rather than tenuki.]
;B[dr]
;W[cr]C[I wasn't giving up the corner without a fight.

I also didn't want him to get the corner plus the two stones that I had there.]
;B[dp]
;W[cq]C[Basically forced. I thought that giving him the corner a bad idea since I had alread invested time down here. I wanted the corner, and wasn't giving it up without a huge fight.]
;B[fr]
;W[bo]C[He protected the cut, so I protected the invasion into my corner. I *think* I'm alive at this point.]
;B[co]
;W[dk]C[I decided that it was time to make another move on the board rather than in the corner. I read that I could defend the cut at B4, so I decided to tenuki.

I was thinking my corner was alive, and I needed more on the left side. I thought I *might* be able to connect if my opponent let me, but I played this more for the reason of keeping up in terms of potential territory rather than connecting.]
;B[gr]
;W[nq]C[I decided to invade. I figured that he would pincer me at M3 since he had a natural extension at that point. My plan was to dive into the corner and take it away from him, because I felt that he had two nice extensions out from the Q4 stone.

Would the territory that I gain from this outweigh the potential inflluence that he gets?

My thought is he would get the better end of that deal.]
;B[lq]C[As expected.]
;W[qq]C[As planned.]
;B[qp]C[I had honestly not expected this move. I thought that extending down was better for Black. My reasoning was that he'd get a wall facing to the left which, I thought, worked better with his groups on the right side and bottom.]
;W[pq]C[For consistency and to keep the cash that I was getting.]
;B[rq]
;W[rr]C[He tried to take the corner, so I had to block him.]
;B[ro]
;W[op]C[I thought here, "If he's going to let me escape, then I'm going to do it."

I entertained thoughts about this group escaping into the center in the middlegame building a modest amount of influence that I could use later.]
;B[sr]
;W[rs]C[I didn't want him to take the corner. Was I being too greedy? In hindsight, this move might not have been the best.

What should I have played or is this move ok? I was worried that if I didn't play this move and played elsewhere he would cut at R2 and get the corner.]
;B[jj]
;W[dh]C[I decided to reinforce the left side rather than the top. Would the top have been the bigger side?

If I didn't play this move, I might have played around G17.

I was worried that he was going to pincer my D9 stone if I didn't play this move. I also thought that if he invaded the top, I could easily deal with it by pincering his stone depending on what he tried to approach O16 or D16.]
;B[ck]
;W[cl]C[This move was to try and keep his last move separated from his group on C5 and C6.]
;B[cj]
;W[dj]C[Now I'm trying to enclose him.]
;B[dl]
;W[bl]C[Since he cut me at D8, I thought for the survival of my C8 stone I would connect it underneath Black if he attacked.]
;B[ci]
;W[ch]CR[ci][cj][ck]C[Still trying to enclose him. My instincts say that his stones are now dead, though I've been known to resurrect my opponents stones later in the game.]
;B[di]
;W[ei]CR[dj][dk]C[I blocked him getting out. I now realized that my two stones at D9 and D10 were precariously placed, though I read out the cut at E10 and saw that it didn't quite work out just yet. That being said I wasn't too worried.]
;B[ej]
;W[ek]C[Forced. I didn't want to lose two stones, and I also wanted the Black group of four to stay dead.]
;B[fk]
(;W[el]C[I decided to extend rather than capture, since I didn't like what I saw.]
;B[dm]
;W[em]C[I felt that extending was more prudent than capturing, though I probably could have captured and had it turn out ok.]
;B[en]
;W[fj]CR[dj][dk][ek][el][em][fj]C[I figured that this was the time to capture. I felt that I had enough liberties to ward off any attemptsby him to capture my string, and I thought that I could gain elsewhere if he tried to fill in my liberties. My opponent resigned here. Though I'm not complaining about the win, I feel that it was too soon for him to resign.

The position, I felt, was balanced and that neither one of us had that big of an advantage. I was enjoying this game, and I felt that Araban's suggestion of having a good reason why you played a move was helping me.

Unfortunately, the game had to end here. I'm wondering what the result would have been had he kept on playing. I will likely never know, and that's a bit frustrating as I felt that something about this game was going to be special.

Oh, well, life goes on, and I'll play more games and hopefully get better.])
(;W[fj]
;B[el]
;W[ej]
;B[eh]C[Suddenly White is in trouble. I wanted to avoid this.]))

[Chew Terr]

Just my quick thoughts:

For your rank, I think you played a perfectly respectable opening. If you can put this much thought and planning into your moves, I'm sure you'll be improving soon.

6: With regards to the high versus low debate, I see it this way: the stone on the fourth line obviously has more territory potential, and puts more pressure on the black approach. So, in my mind, you want to play high when you can afford it. The deciding factor for whether or not you can afford it is this: if black approaches around M17, it threatens to undercut and your corner will be under pressure. If you have enough support on the top, black cannot safely play M17, so your high stone is safe.

$$B Does this threaten black enough?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 8 . 7 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . 6 . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
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$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Does this threaten black enough?
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . 8 . 7 . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . 6 . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . , . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

7 here likely would not be played immediately, but it is a major weakness of the shape created by the high stone. If you feel like you can handle black getting the approach there, then by all means play high. You are correct, playing high here is better than it would be if the top left corner was white's, as it works together better. Personally, I am perhaps too afraid of the black approach, so I don't play high often. However, it's totally playable and in this situation I feel that it's more a matter of taste.

As far as your second question for this move, if black had swapped S16 for R17, he would have a portion of the corner, with the stability it brings, at the expense of giving you the other half. The reason to do this (from black's perspective) is to leave the corner invasion open for later. If black's group is safe and stable, it may be worth leaving the corner available to get extra points. However, this is only if he can invade without causing it to hurt his other stones too much, and it comes at the risk that eventually you will seal off the corner entirely.

$$B Personally, if I feel like leaving the corner open as B, I try to play lightly like this.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . 6 . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------

Click Here To Show Diagram Code

[go]$$B Personally, if I feel like leaving the corner open as B, I try to play lightly like this.
$$ ---------------------------------------
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . 2 . . . . . , . . . 6 . 4 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 7 . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . , . . . . . , . . . . . 1 . . . |
$$ | . . . . 3 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . |
$$ ---------------------------------------[/go]

10: I never like approaching 5-3 stones, I don't really know how to handle them either =/

12: If you want to separate black, you may want to consider doing it directly, around D5. It forces black to defend one side, but allows you to put some pressure on the other, as well as not getting closed in.

24: A good general idea of direction, but you might want to consider 11. It's low, so it's harder to undercut, but it has a safe extension in either direction, so you cannot get cut off.

31: Bad for black. As you pointed out, he let you out too easily. Making that tiger's mouth is a good shape point that tends to be good for you when available. For that reason, P4 is big for both sides.

36: As it buys safety for your group, this move is fine. Black got little, but forced you to stabilize your group further.

[Aphelion]

I didn't have time to go over the entire game, but the sequence from 10 to 26 struck me very forcefully, so I've added a partial review of these moves:

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]
PW[White]PB[Black]
;B[pp]
;W[dd]
;B[eq]
;W[pd]
;B[qf]
;W[nd]
;B[qi]
;W[cp]
;B[cn]
;W[dq]LB[ep:A]C[Aphelion:

IMO this kick isn't the best idea, because

1. Tactically its usually bad shape, and locally you make black very strong facing the right (something he wants)

2. The mentality is to live inside and get a small corner in gote. A more positve way is to think about getting out and splitting Black, leaning on one side to gain strength and launching an attack on another. Something like 'A', for instance. ]
;B[ep]
;W[hp]C[Aphelion:

I see this kind of unreasonable move a lot, and I really wanted to point this out because this shows you want to have your cake and eat it too. Here's a couple reason its bad:

1. D3 isn't completely a live, Black has a move at B3 to take away your base.

2. Considering the first point, you are making two weak groups where black has a lot of support, this cannot end well for you.

3. Without going into tactical considerations, here is how you can see is your move isn't right: It lacks strategic consistency. D3 said you were fine with giving up the outside to Black for the corner, then immediately you try to deny the outside for Black as well . Go is about exchanges, and unless the opponent makes a mistake you cannot prevent him from getting everything. Here, none of black's moves look like blatant mistakes, so he clearly will end up with some kind of profit from this exchange. You trying to prevent that is unreasonable. For specific tactical and strategic reasons why this is a mistake, see 1. and 2.]
;B[hq]
;W[gq]LB[jp:A][jq:B]C[Aphelion:

This move is looking for a fight, and connecting with the corner simply isn't possible. Since you have two weak groups here and black is strong, you should just be happy lmaking a base on the outside by haneing in the other direction. Incidentally this contact move by Black is bad. since it induces White to strenghten himself. A pincer around 'A' or 'B' would be very tough on white. ]
;B[iq]
;W[gp]
;B[dr]
;W[cr]
;B[dp]
;W[cq]
;B[fr]
;W[bo]
;B[co]
;W[dk]C[Aphelion:

You really need to play G2 here, splitting black and giving him broken shape. It also makes his J3 stones and to a much lesser extent, F2 vulnerable to attack. That means he cannot attack your G3 stones so whole heartedly. If Black connects, he is connected and 100% alive on both sides, with no worries, and your group is floating without a base. Always take care of unfinished business with weak groups before doing something else.]
;B[gr]
;W[nq]C[Aphelion:

Again, see my previous comment about not leaving weak groups unattended. If he kicks at P3 , you suddenly have two heavy groups close to each other without a base. Very very bad situation. ]
))

[Dusk Eagle]

I thought you played very well for 17k

(;GM[1]FF[4]CA[UTF-8]AP[CGoban:3]ST[2]
RU[Japanese]SZ[19]KM[6.50]
PW[White]PB[Black]
;B[pp]
;W[dd]
;B[eq]
;W[pd]
;B[qf]
;W[nd]C[This move aims high, but leaves a weakness as shown in the variation. However, it also offers more development potential however. It's definitely a correct way to play, I just want you to understand the difference.]
(;B[qi]C[Difference is shown in the variation.]
(;W[cp]
;B[cn]
;W[dq]LB[do:B][ep:A]C[Moving out at 'A' or 'B' are better, but the follow-ups are complex. Make up your own variations from one of those moves.]
;B[ep]
;W[hp]C[Pincer is only effective if black can't link up his two stones, and if you are healthy in the corner (you are alive, but not healthy). Both aren't the case.]
;B[hq]
;W[gq]LB[jp:A][jq:B]
;B[iq]
;W[gp]
;B[dr]
;W[cr]
;B[dp]
;W[cq]
;B[fr]
;W[bo]
;B[co]
;W[dk]C[B6 is sente for black, and he could also force you to make a ko for life if he wanted. Then you will really feel undercut on the left.]
(;B[gr]
;W[nq]
;B[lq]
;W[qq]
;B[qp]TR[qi]C[This move is okay thanks to this stone, but black screws up joseki shortly.]
;W[pq]
(;B[rq]
;W[rr]
;B[ro]
;W[op]C[Very good! This is a vital point. You could have played T3 first (his S5 should, if he wants to defend the stone at all, be at S4), but P4 seems far more important in ruining his influence here.]
;B[sr]
;W[rs]C[This is one of the only times this shape is correct. If black is not on the first line here, it is better to R2, but as black is, S1 is correct.

And no, you weren't being greedy. If he gets R2, he is instantly alive and you aren't. By responding, the situation is flipped in favor of you.]
;B[jj]C[Feels like he passed here.]
;W[dh]
;B[ck]
;W[cl]C[I like your thinking and your spirit, even though this move doesn't work.]
;B[cj]
;W[dj]
(;B[dl]
;W[bl]
;B[ci]
;W[ch]
;B[di]
;W[ei]
;B[ej]
;W[ek]
;B[fk]
;W[el]
;B[dm]
;W[em]C[Probably better to capture the cutting stone.]
;B[en]
;W[fj]C[I prefer your position, though there's no reason for him to have resigned here.])
(;B[bn]
;W[ds]
;B[er]
;W[ap]
;B[bl]))
(;B[op]
;W[nr]
;B[mo]C[Normal, though variations exist.]))
(;B[bn]TR[bi][ci][bj][cj][bk][ck]C[Your D9 stone doesn't seem to be doing much not that black is getting B6 in sente.]
;W[ds]C[If you don't play here first you will die (it's a complicated position, probably beyond your level, though I'm sure you could tell you were weak in the corner).

http://senseis.xmp.net/?JGroup#toc3]
(;B[er]
;W[ap]C[Only move for life.])
(;B[es]C[Ko.])))
(;W[qe]
;B[pf]LB[qj:A]TR[qi]C[Black would prefer to have his stone at 'A'. If it was on 'A', the position would favor him, so the kick would be wrong, but since it's not, the kick can be good if black doesn't S16.]))
(;B[rd]
;W[qc]
;B[qi]
(;W[aa]
;B[lc])
(;W[jc])))

[Suji]

Thanks, everything was really helpful.